Wednesday,September 3, 2003

Commissioners, get out of law enforcement

I have read the recent articles, editorials and letters concerning the debate about the powers of county marshals with a mixture of amusement and disgust.

I would suggest to all the members of the Fayette County Commission, and to Mr. Dunn and Mr. Frady in particular, that they would do well to remember a few things about this county.

1. We citizens have repeatedly elected Sheriff Johnson to head up our law enforcement activities. Sheriff Johnson has an easy reelection every term because he is trusted by us to run a clean, efficient and effective department. We do not elect county commissioners to interfere with or infringe on the sheriff's area of responsibility.

I doubt very seriously that you can name one other public official in our area who carries the respect and trust earned by Sheriff Johnson.

2. Regardless of the legal technicalities involved, and the intentions of the county attorney (aboveboard or not), we have two gentlemen who served on the county commission at the time who obviously had no intention of creating a county police force at the time of the original vote. The longtime county administrator confirms that the marshal staff was never considered a police force.

So your statements that the marshals have always been considered a police force is pure hogwash.

3. We citizens will not take kindly to having our tax dollars spent to duplicate services that are already provided quite well by the sheriff and his deputies. If more folks are needed to enforce the laws of Fayette County, then most citizens will support additions to the sheriff's department. We will not condone an end-run around the person we elected to handle the tasks.

4. I believe that the deputies of this county do an excellent job of traffic law enforcement aimed at safety as opposed to revenue enhancement.

My personal opinion is that this entire episode is an effort by the commission to bring more money in. Is the commission working on a belief that if Sheriff Johnson won't bend to your whims and run speed-traps and other money producing operations, let's create another department to do it for us?

I hope that you are not trying to create another local "Hazzard County" for Fayette drivers to contend with.

5. I am especially disturbed by Commissioner Dunn's statements about the potential for withholding funds for the sheriff's department. This statement was so ridiculous that it is beneath contempt.

May I remind you that many of us enjoy living in this county because of the high level of security we enjoy? May I also remind you who elected all of you and the sheriff? Should you even contemplate financially hindering our sheriff's department because he does not bow down to your desires, I can assure you that Randall Johnson will still be in office and you won't be. How dare you even think about saying such a thing!

6. As for Commissioner Dunn's question about whether or not a marshal who observes a drunk driver should be told to just ignore it, I would ask, "What are the legal grounds for a police officer from the city of Atlanta who, while passing through the Tyrone area, observes an emergency situation? Would that officer not be empowered to take the situation in hand and deal with it until he can safely summon officers from the proper jurisdiction? Is that not a basic duty of any law enforcement officer?

Commissioner Dunn, surely you have a better argument than that.

7. If you really believe that we need a second police department for the county, why not do the honest thing and put it to a vote of our populace?

We will all be best served if everyone does the job they were elected to do and does not trifle in the duties of other public servants.

I believe Sheriff Johnson does his duty to the best of his ability. I don't see him attempting to form a duplicate county commission.

I would highly suggest that the commissioners spend their efforts in the areas they were elected to perform and leave the law enforcement to the experts.

Tom Dunn

Peachtree City, Ga.